Something wicked
by allthingsgray
Summary: Anakin has a second master - one who is neither jedi nor sith and no longer alive. And the fate of the galaxy spins on its axis. Canon KOTOR & KOTOR 2 elements. Prologue set in TPM, begins pre-AOTC


"Feather to fire

fire to blood

blood to bone

bone to marrow

marrow to ashes

ashes to snow." - from an excerpt of the exhibit Ashes and Snow entitled _Feather to Fire_

It came to him in a whisper.

The ship left Tatooine and he felt his mother's presence leave him - space was so, so cold with such a warm love so far away.

Something touched his mind. It was unobtrusive but he felt it, knew it was there like the suns on his skin. He almost called out when he heard the voice. It sounded so clear and close.

" _Such a small thing. But I am all too aware that great things must start from somewhere. The trees of Kashyyyk were not always the monstrosities they are today. All it takes is a seed. Just a speck_."

Anakin froze and looked around the room he'd quartered himself in on the cruiser before calling out a tentative, "Hello?"

" _Shhh. Hush now. I am not someone to be feared - not to you. I am here to help because I have seen what you could become if the course of your destiny is left on its own_."

Anakin wondered aloud. "My destiny? Is it important?" He asked excitedly.

There was a laugh that sounded like old pages crinkling. " _I have forgotten how a child's mind twists and turns, making such conjectures without any malice or arrogance. Your destiny, youngling, is important enough to have summoned me from long journeys across the galaxy. I have long since listened to the murmurs within the Force, followed the currents of strange waters to stranger shores to bare witness to atrocities and mercies that few jedi allow themselves to see_."

The boy scrunched his nose. "I don't really understand."

" _For now it is unnecessary for you to understand such things. Only know and understand that I am here to help you_."

He paused. "I can hear you, but you're not really here." His confusion showed on his young face.

" _Focus on my voice. I can broadcast to you. I could even show myself. But I prefer to leave that for a later time. For now, close your eyes and listen to the world around you_."

Anakin sat back and closed his eyes. "Okay."

" _What can you feel? There are emotions aboard this vessel not your own. Tell me what they are._ "

Anakin concentrated, bit his lip and furrowed his brow. "I don't know how to do this part. What am I supposed to do?" Working on his pod was less work. And then he cautiously asked, "Are you a jedi too?"

" _You will learn it in time. I will teach you that and more. And I_ was _a jedi, although that was long ago as well._ "

"Well where are you now?" Anakin kept his eyes closed and tried using the Force, which Qui-Gon had tried explaining to him earlier.

" _I am no longer amongst the living, young Skywalker. I am within the Force, a part of it, yet myself because I so wish it._ "

Anakin's eyes flew open and whispered to the empty room, "You're dead?"

" _For quite some time, drifting like flotsam in open waters until I felt_ you _within it as well. I've foreseen some of your journey and it is a long road. I wished to extend my hand, so to speak, to aid you. You are an anomaly to the jedi and they will not understand how to appropriately teach you._ "

"But if you're dead - then how?" The boy's mind worked a mile and minute. He'd never talked to a dead person before.

" _The jedi who negotiated your release has already told you some of it; the Force. It binds all living, sentient beings together, as the jedi believe. But it binds those beyond life, plants and animals, water and desert sands. There is a balance within all of the galaxy, each in its own scale._ "

"Oh. Okay. That was what Qui-Gon was talking about earlier, then I guess." Anakin didn't really understand all of what was said, but he supposed that the voice just expected that he would eventually. And immediately after: "What do you mean they won't know how to teach me?"

" _You are far older than any padawan this Order has accepted. In the past there were...exceptions to such rules. Extenuating circumstances that forced their hand. They may be reluctant to teach you at first, but I believe they will allow you into their Order. But you are not like the others. You have lived outside the Order, experienced it as a slave and know the worlds beyond theirs more intimately than they ever will. It will cause you difficulty. On numerous fronts. I can guide you through it. They will assign you a master who will teach you the way of the jedi - dogmatic and narrow-minded although it will serve its purpose for the time being. But I can guide you through the difficulties you will inevitably have_."

Anakin opened his mouth to ask another question but then Padme was there; pretty and young and embodying all the good things in the galaxy. She smiled at him and Anakin barely felt the voice leave him quietly, as if it had never been there.


End file.
